According to analyst house Ovum, Governments are likely to turn to cloud computing and other outsourcing methods in the next 12 months to give them the chance to make significant savings difficult economic times.

In their report 2011 Trends to Watch: Cloud Computing Technology, they say that Government departments will be made to start using cloud facilities in response to big cuts in public sector expenditure, and in an effort to streamline processes.

According to the report, the UK government is ahead of other governments in terms of its thinking in the shift to a cloud-based way of providing services.

Meanwhile, Ovum believes the government's transparency and accountability agendas will continue to make an impact, with greater use of business intelligence and analytics expected.

Analyst Jessica Hawkins says: "Because cloud delivery means a lot of infrastructure is owned and operated by vendors and because payment is based on what you use, rather than just a flat-rate payment, it gives government departments the chance to make significant savings,"

"As such the cut-backs being imposed could actually have a bit of a benefit as they will force government IT departments to look into these new technologies, which can offer something that has more relevance to workers and users than current systems in use."

She added that moving to the cloud could also help departments reduce inefficiencies and waste by ensuring that they only run services that they need.

Hawkins conceded that some government IT leaders remain worried about security and privacy with cloud-based applications and networks, but said that the opening up of a government-wide network could overcome this.